Karl Andree: Briton sentenced to flogging in Saudi prison to be released 'within a week'

Karl Andree was detained in a Saudi Arabian prison for a year for possessing home-made wineReuters

Karl Andree, a Briton jailed in Saudi Arabia after being caught in possession of home-made wine, will be released "within a week", Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond has said.

The 74-year-old has been in prison for a year and was sentenced to be flogged 350 times at the culmination of his sentence. The story attracted international attention and led to Prime Minister David Cameron urging Saudi authorities to stop their plans of punishing the grandfather. The Ministry of Justice later cancelled a lucrative deal with the Saudi prison service.

In Hammond's tweet, which featured a picture of him in Saudi Arabia, the foreign secretary said he was "delighted to announce Brit Karl Andree will be released from Saudi custody within a week & reunited with his family". He is in the country at the start of a four-nation tour of the Gulf states.